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Reds held to 1-1 stalemate with Glory

Adelaide Untied has drawn 1-1 against Perth Glory at Coopers Stadium in Round 17 of the Hyundai A-League 2014/15 season.

Brilliant goals from Pablo Sanchez and Nebojsa Marinkovic entertained the 9,711 fans that attended the match, but neither side could find a winner in a closely fought encounter.

Sweltering conditions turned cool and gusty just prior to kick-off at Coopers Stadium, the Reds starting the game more promisingly with their creativity on show for all to see.

Within five minutes United had the first half-chance of the match through Pablo Sanchez, but his resulting effort was put wide of the mark – the ball slightly escaping his ideal striking range.

But not long after, Pablo Sanchez made amends and put the home side up 1-0 after eleven minutes. The No. 7 broke through the centre of the Perth defence after a neat one-two with Tarek Elrich. He beat one defender and calmly chipped the ball over rushing Glory goalkeeper, Danny Vukovic, and into the back of the net.

United were firmly in control throughout the opening stages, Glory’s midfield and defence struggling to keep up with the Reds’ fluidity and speed in attack.

And they were unlucky not to go up by two just after the 20 minute mark through Sergio Cirio. Outstanding work from Michael Marrone on the right wing saw him skip past Scott Jamieson to cross for the arriving Cirio at the back post. However, the Spaniard’s finish was mishit and put over the bar.

The chances created throughout the rest of the half were seemingly half-chances, the Reds with the majority of possession and undoubtedly the stronger hold on the game.

Yet, eight minutes after the restart, Glory found an equaliser through Nebojsa Marinkovic, whose strike into the far corner beat Eugene Galekovic all ends up.

This triggered a much more open football match with the game becoming rather end-to-end, both sides eager to gain the advantage. But upon fulltime neither side was able to fashion a winner, the score finishing 1-1.

After the match, Adelaide United head-coach, Josep Gombau, said he was happy with his side’s performance and the way his players controlled the match throughout the 90 minutes.

“I think that we played a good game and I said to the players that I think we deserved the three-points,” Gombau said.

“In the first half we did better than in the second half and we could have gone 2-0 up, (but) in the end we’ve drawn the game.

“But it’s like I always say, if we play well then we will have good things in the future and now after this weekend everything is the same. We just have to keep going. There are ten more games and we’ll work hard to win the next game.”